Question about genetic DNA metabolism testing

[BigMammy]

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread for my question. I'm new to BL and searched the threads for related topics but couldn't find any. Maybe I didn't look in the right place. If so, my apologies.

I've been taking oxycodone 15mg 3x a day for a while now. I visit my pain management doc every month and have never failed a drug test. I have a variety of pain issues which I'm not going to get into. For the last 8 months or so my pain number has been an 8 or higher. I have spoke to my doctor about a dosage increase but he's not trying to hear it. So I've been taking more pills than 3 a day which leaves me without anything for about the last week of the month. During that week, I have no withdraw symptoms which is strange in itself . So I decided to get a second opinion at another pain management doctor. I told the new doctor all of the things I previously stated, (even the part about me having to take more medicine to make my pain tolerable) and she suggested that I should get a genetic test to test my metabolism for medications and other issues. I have never heard of this before and told her I wanted to research it first.

Here's the issue, if I have this test I'm scared that the doctor will take my oxycodone away. Has anyone had one of these tests? If so, what happened? I'm not to crazy about giving someone my DNA and not knowing what they will end up doing with it. Maybe I'm just paranoid or watched too many episodes of The X Files in the past. Anyone's personal experience with this and advice will be appreciated.

 

[Dr_Rolls_MD[MA]]

Hi, welcome to BL!

I think what they are referring to is blood plasma levels for medications. I'm on methadone and they do peak and trough levels. Basically, you take your medication as prescribed for a few days. Then, you get a blood draw in the morning (trough level/low level). Then, 4 hours later, you get another blood draw (peak level). Based on these two numbers and your dose, they can determine how fast you are metabolizing a drug. If your trough level is really low, it can mean that you metabolize it faster. The peak level is done to make sure you don't reach a toxic level of a drug in your system.

The above scenario is for methadone. It has a very long half life...about 24-36 hours. Oxycodone has a much shorter half life, so the peak and trough times would probably be done closer together. I've personally never heard of this test for oxycodone, etc, but I'm assuming this is what the doctors are referring to. It has nothing to do with your DNA, just a blood draw to check plasma levels. If you get a test like this done, it's important to only take what you are prescribed. Otherwise, the test will come back higher that what it should be and it will look like you are metabolizing slower than you are. Personally, I would take LESS for a day or two to make it look like you are metabolizing faster.

If there's something I'm missing, please chime in, but it seems like this is what your doctor is talking about.

 

[BigMammy]

The test that I was referring to is a mouth swab. Here is a link to one of the shortest descriptions of the test I have found:

http://samiasolutions.com/genetic-testing-page/

Hope this sheds some light as to what I was referring to. ☺

 

[Dr_Rolls_MD[MA]]

Interesting. Now I know why you are hesitant about the test. I would be too! I'm not sure if I like the idea of this. I guess I would have to know more about it first. Seems like you could get screwed out of pain medicine if the test comes back saying you're predisposed to addiction, etc.

It seems like the test does somehow test for metabolism of drugs, just not the way I was describing before.

Maybe someone can shed some light on this....

Good luck!